The Legacy: When Nick Met Ville
by zooropa1
Summary: AU story with one original character


Ville is sitting on the bank of the closed mountain road that Nick drives some nights to think. He passes her at the end of his run. Remembering Wendy, he stops. She does not seem to notice; she is simply staring at the road. She does not speak. Nick approaches her. "Are you okay?" She simply nods. "Do you need help?" She indicates no. "What are you doing out here?"

Finally she raises her head, but doesn't look at him yet. "I'm lost."

"Do you need a ride?" She looks at him. She seems strange to him, like she's drugged or in a trance.

"Why would I need a ride if I don't know where I'm going?" Her gaze drifted down the mountain again.

He was beginning to think she was a space case or something. "What's your name?"

"Ville."

"I'm Nick. Look, you don't want to stay out here all night. It gets pretty cold up here this time of year," he gestured, "You don't have a coat. What're you gonna use to keep warm?" This would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. She stared down at the roadway again. He crouched two feet near her; he wanted to get a look at her eyes. Suddenly she looks right at him, very intensely into his eyes. "I sense you're a person that cares about helping people."

He smiled. Maybe she was in there after all. _'Now we're making progress,'_ he thought. "Where're you from?

"Far away. Nowhere." She used the same soft monotone, but her eyes were starting to come to life.

He made his offer. "Look, if you're in trouble or running from something, I can take you to a safe place. I work at a place called the Luna Foundation. You can stay the night, get something to eat. In the morning, you can figure out what to do next." She stared at the road again, as if it were a crystal ball. Sighing, she agreed. It would make him feel better if he thought he could help her.

He stood and gestured towards the Mustang. "Your chariot awaits." He offered his hand to help her up, but she didn't take it. She simply rose straight up without any effort, almost as if she had floated.

After driving in silence for a short time, he tried to get her talking again. It seemed as if she had forgotten how speak or hadn't spoken at all in a very long time. "Is there anybody that might be missing you?" She said softly. "I don't think so."

"How did you get all the way up here? Did somebody drop you off? Were you supposed to meet someone?" Nick pressed.

"No." She laughed softly. "You like to ask questions. I'm sorry if my answers aren't very helpful."

"That's the most you've said all night," he joked.

Ville smiled at that. "It's like coming out of a cocoon or a deep sleep," she explained.

"Like Sleeping Beauty or something." Amused, she shook her head. "All right," he said, "let me ask you another question. Don't be offended, okay? Have you been drinking or doing any drugs tonight?"

She leaned her head back against the headrest and laughed a little louder, "No."

"So...you're like this all the time—?" he grinned.

"No, not always," she reassured him. "It's kind of like a recuperative trance. And no, I'm not hurt."

He changed tracks. "So what do you do?"

She tried to think about it. "I travel."

'Uh-oh, I'm losing her,' he thought. "I used to travel a lot myself. You know it's not safe to be in such an isolated spot alone. Anything could happen to you."

Staring out at the road again, Ville whispered, "You have a strong curiosity. A hunger for knowledge."

"It's my job." He shrugged.

"What is this Luna Foundation?"

"It's a privately funded charity. We assist the local hospitals, the university. We collect and preserve artifacts. We solve puzzles. We help people that no one else can help." He turned and saw her watching him intently now.

"Tell me about the people you work with." It seemed almost a command.

Startled, he hesitated. "Well, there's a handful of us on permanent staff," he tried to change the subject slightly. "The foundation house is on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. We're going there now."

"The Legacy," she breathed.

Nick felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. The Legacy is a secret society that investigates paranormal phenomena, dedicated to protecting the innocent from evil. "How do you know about the Legacy?" he asked warily.

Deep in thought, she asked, "Is Derek Rayne there?"

Still a little suspicious, Nick retorted, "You know Derek?"

"I knew him as a child," was all she'd say.

Nick shook his head. "This is no coincidence. Were you trying to reach the Legacy house before you got lost?"

"I don't know. Perhaps that is where I'm supposed to go. Maybe that's why I came here," she wondered out loud. "Maybe I was supposed to meet you back there." She was wide awake now.

Nick quit asking questions and just drove.

They arrived at the heliport. Nick parked the car in a rather large private garage with several other vehicles. A Bentley, an Explorer, a Land Rover amoung them.

"We can take the chopper back to the island. How do you feel about flying?"

"Oh, I love to fly," she said and absently added, "I don't usually use a chopper or plane though."

"Oh, yeah? You hang glide?"

Ville realized her attention had wandered and reigned it in. "Something like that." She added mentally, _'But without the hang glider'._

Nick looked at her. "What was that last part?"

Startled that he might have overheard her thought, she replied glibly, "Nothing."

He smiled at her, "Come on," and lead the way.

In the air, Ville decided to experiment. Carefully she probed the outer edges of his consciousness to see if he could detect her. He didn't seem to notice. Satisfied, she looked out over the water. "It's beautiful up here."

He agreed, "Yeah, it sure is. There's the house." The Legacy house was actually a castle on meticulously kept grounds.

Derek recognized her immediately. "My God, it's you. Ville." They smiled and embraced. "I never expected to see you again."

Touching the grey in his hair, the lines on his face, she said, "I never expected to be back in your lifetime." She glanced over his shoulder to see two women entering the main room. He followed her look. "Let me introduce my associates. You've obviously already met Nick Boyle, our jack of all trades. This is Rachel Corrigan. She's a psychiatrist by profession."

Rachel stepped forward and shook hands. "Nice to meet you."

"And Alex Moreau, our chief researcher." Alex waved, "Hello."

Ville asked Derek, "What ever happened to Philip?" Nick snorted disdainfully. Alex reached over and nudged him for being rude.  
Derek answered, "Philip is in Ireland. He's a parish priest there now."

Ville's face brightened, "Good. I know he's happy there."

Rachel asked, "So how did you two meet?"

"Oh, it was thirty years ago, just after my father died. I stayed here at the Legacy house awhile before going back to school. Ville came to the house shortly after I arrived."

Nick interrupted, "Wait a minute. I thought you said you knew Derek when you were a child."

Ville answered, "I said I knew Derek as a child. I'm a lot older than I look."

Nick grinned, "No way."

Derek continued, "She helped me deal with my father's death." He turned to her. "And for that, I have always been grateful. I never thanked you." He spoke charmingly in a Dutch accent.

Ville laid her hand on his shoulder and smiled up at him. "I always knew."

Derek asked, "So what brings you to this house now?"

Ville thought a moment, "I'm not sure. I don't quite remember my arrival. Let's talk privately later." Derek nodded knowingly, "Of course. You can have the room upstairs across from mine."

She nodded and turned toward the others. "It's nice to meet you. I'll look forward to getting to know all of you. Goodnight. And Nick," she smiled, "thanks for the ride."

He grinned, "Anytime."

She headed up the stairs for the night.

Hours later, from her bed, she sent out a mental tendril to sense the others. She found Nick in his room down the hall. Sound asleep. Alex was across the hall and down one door from him. Also asleep. Ville couldn't sense Rachel anywhere in the house; she must have left.

The house staff were downstairs in another wing. The grounds outside were quiet. Lastly, because he has the Sight, she touched Derek. He was still up, reading in the library. He felt her and looked up. Ville made a connection with him, apologized for the intrusion and withdrew. They would talk tomorrow. She wandered the halls a little more before slipping under.

* * *

Derek opened the library door as she approached. "I trust you slept well last night."

Ville ducked in. "Well, I was a little restless, as you could tell, but I settled down after awhile."

He smiled gently, "The house itself hasn't changed all that much since you were here last." He gestured for her to sit at the table, taking the chair at the head of the table himself.

"Just the people."

"They're a good group."

"So how do you feel about leading this house?"

He shook his head. "I'm supposed to be asking you the questions." His tone turned serious; he was very protective of his people. "Did you intercept Nick on purpose last night?"

Ville whispered, "I don't know. I don't remember my arrival any better than I did last night."

Derek experienced a psychic flash; he could see Ville sitting by the side of the road, nothing more. "Do you remember where you arrived from?"

"No. It feels as if I were...interrupted, called away in the middle of something. I felt like I was sitting at the bottom of a pond. Nick's driving by was just a ripple on the surface. But if he hadn't stopped, I would've ignored him."

"It sounds as if you were in a healing trance when you were drawn here." He leaned forward with his arms on the table, hands together. "Have you any idea why you're here? Any flashes, visions, anything at all?"

"Nothing." She shook her head solemnly. "Nick's opinion is that I must have been heading here and got lost. But if so, Derek, I have no idea why."

After thinking a moment, Derek decided, "Well, then, we'll just be grateful that you're here. You will stay?"

Ville motioned toward the door. "Think they can handle the truth about me?"

"Of course. They're members of the Legacy. However, knowing Nick, he'll probably ask for a demonstration."

She smiled, "He's the young skeptic, eh?"

Derek nodded, "He prefers to consider the physical before assuming the paranormal at work. I'm sure they'll have no trouble accepting you. So again, I ask you, will you stay?"

While he spoke, she stared down at the table, moving past the surface. Then she looked up. "Why not? I am still a member of the Legacy."

* * *

Rachel and Alex joined Nick for breakfast. He related his encounter. Rachel was curious about Ville's state of mind when he found her. "Sounds like shock triggered by some sort of trauma. Do you think she might have been attacked or robbed?"

Nick shrugged. "She didn't have any possessions with her, just the clothes on her back. But every hair in place, no sign of a struggle."

Alex suggested, "She might have lost her things in the woods and then wandered down to the road."

Nick agreed. "Yeah, I thought of that. I'm going back up there to take a look around."

"I'll go with you," Rachel volunteered.

Derek appeared in the doorway. "Pardon me, ladies, gentleman. Whenever you're ready, I'd like you to join me in the foyer. I have an announcement to make that concerns us all."

The three looked at each other and immediately rose from the table. Alex raised her eyebrows. "This should be interesting." As they gathered in a loose circle, Ville reached out to assess their state of mind. Rachel, to Derek's right, looking at him and Ville in turn, seemed slightly apprehensive. Apparently Derek was prone to concealing and revealing information without explanation. Interesting to note, Ville thought.

Next to Rachel, Alex's curiosity was clearly piqued. She's very open to discovering things, past and present, and she definitely has the Sight. Ville was not surprised that Alex had once been Derek's student at the university.

Then there was Nick, to Ville's left, but standing a bit back from the 'circle'. He folded his arms across his chest, ready to do verbal battle if he didn't believe what he heard. She felt his loyalty to the others very close to the surface. Alex and Rachel were like sisters to him. Derek, a father figure, always respected. For Nick, this was his family now.

Derek began speaking, rather formally. "After talking with Ville, it seems very possible that the Legacy is her intended destination. At my invitation, she has agreed to join our house for the duration of her stay, however long that may be. Either until she regains the knowledge of why she came to be here in this time and place or until she is called away again."

Nick sighed loudly. This was Philip all over again.

Derek chose to overlook the breach of etiquette. "Questions?"

Rachel spoke first. "I'm not sure I understand - 'called away'? By whom?"

Ville left Derek holding the ball. He answered Rachel's question by relating what he had intuited of Ville's nature. "Ville is an Immortal. I believe her people have been visiting this earth since mankind appeared. It's possible that references to 'The Watchers' might mean her people. They go where they're needed, although I'm not sure how that's determined. I believe it's an intuition that's developed over the millennia."

"You mean like a salmon swimming upstream?" Rachel said.

Ville took over with a little smile. "That's a good analogy, however, our purpose is a little more complicated than the salmon's."

Excitedly, Alex asked, "So how do you travel from place to place?"

"Instant teleportation.

"Yes," Derek added. "She may have transported here during a healing trance last night. Perhaps she was recovering from her previous...adventure."

Nick fired his first shot, "So you're an alien that looks just like us and you go popping around the planet."

"The reason I look like you, is that when I come here, I arrive reconstituted as a human." Sensing Rachel's growing interest, Ville turned to her. "I have a heart, lungs, all the biological systems that you do; I simply have more control over them."

Nick needled, "So you're better than us."

Patiently, she answered, "No, just older. My people have developed the powers of the mind over hundreds of thousands of generations. It's not beyond the human race. Given time, evolution will follow this path. Think of the yogis who can control their pain, faith healers who cure with their hands, people who exhibit basic telekinesis, people who have the Sight. Eventually humans will evolve greater control over these abilities.

"You know the Legacy was established to protect mankind against the forces of Darkness. That's part of our purpose as well - to protect and guide, but not to control or exert undue influence. Your race is young. So my rebuttal to Nick is: We're not better than you, we're older than you." She put the ball back in his court.

He said, "I can handle that."

Alex wanted to know, "So what can you do?"

"Well," Ville smiled. This was going to be fun. "Derek said you might want a demonstration, and as you're scientists, I don't think that's an unreasonable request. I want to answer your questions, but know this - eventually you'll come to a line beyond which I simply can't explain. Not because I don't want to. And please, no requests for raising the dead or changing the timeline," she joked. "Derek, why don't you start?"

"All right. I'd like you to teleport yourself to the top of the stairs." Instantly she was gone.

"Done," she called from the top of the stairs.

Rachel exclaimed, "How did you do that?"

"The easiest explanation is that I deconstructed at the molecular level, projected myself here and reconstructed."

"And that's what allows you to construct a human form and presumably other forms as well?"

"Right."

"Now," Derek requested, "Take yourself out onto the lawn." Instantly, she disappeared again.

"She can transport through the air and solid material," Alex said.

Derek nodded as the doorbell rang, "That's right." He went and opened the door.

"Hello, I was in the neighborhood selling magazine subscriptions to support a scholarship fund. If you're interested, we running specials on TV Guide, Time and Newsweek," Ville riffed.

"Do you carry Psychic Review?" Derek played along.

"Of course!"

He gestured. "Well then, come in." She passed him and approached the others. After he closed the door, he called after her. "Could I see a brochure of these magazines?"

The group saw it appear in her hand as she turned and offered it to him.

Nick murmured to Alex, "Sleight of hand."

Derek plucked it from her hand and gave it a cursory glance and passed it to Rachel. She rubbed it. "Ordinary glossy paper."

"You guys look like you've done this number before," Nick teased. "Maybe you should take it on the road."

Alex agreed, "This could be simple illusion and sleight of hand. Produce something else."

"What would you like? A rose," she handed it to Alex.

"Could've come from the bushes out front," Nick said.

"A necklace," she handed to Rachel.

"Too easily concealed," Nick continued to parry.

Ville held her hands close together in front of her. "A puppy?" She handed the puppy over to Derek to his consternation and everyone's amusement. She turned to Nick, arms akimbo.

"You can't impress us with gifts and trinkets." Grinning, she pointed at him, "I'll come back to you later. Rachel, you're next."

"Okay." Rachel thought for a moment. "Can you levitate?"

"Of course," Ville spread her hands and began to rise gently. Four feet off the floor, she swung her legs up and behind her, appearing to be resting on her stomach. She propped herself up on her elbows and planted her chin in her hand. Next to her, Nick passed his hand above and below her. The boisterous puppy left Derek's arms and floated over to Alex who laughed as she caught and examined it.  
Rachel drew closer to Ville, intrigued. "What does that feel like?" she asked wonderingly.

"It feels free." Ville dropped her hand. As she raised it, Rachel began to rise. Her eyes went wide, "Oh, my." Ville slowly twirled her, set her back down and came down herself. "Alex?"

"Locate and describe something in the house, something new since the last time you were here."

"Ah, good one." She closed her eyes softly and extended her senses throughout the house. She sought out the hidden storage room in the basement. "Ah, I see you've acquired the other sepulchers your father was looking for, Derek. I can sense Rachel's daughter's presence in connection with the fifth one. Let's see what's in one of these other crates. Second stack, third one down. Religious artifacts, a very old bible, altar candlesticks. There's a velvet box underneath the bible. Inside is a cross. Rumour has it, it belonged to St. Patrick. Well, I can tell you that's not true."

"I thought so myself," Derek commented.

She shifted to another part of the house. "There's a Madonna and Child piece in the Hall of Antiquities I haven't seen before. It also came from Ireland." Her brow creased, "Over here in the display case, there's a piece missing." Her eyes flew open, "Where is the medallion of the Dark Priest?"

"We had to destroy it."

Relieved Ville commented, "Just as well."

Nick wasn't quite convinced yet. "What's in the second drawer of my chest?"

Ville closed her eyes again. "I'm in the doorway. Do you mean the one on the left or that dresser thing on the right?" she teased.

"Come on, it's a fifty-fifty chance."

"To the left then. I'm in the draw—oh, gun collection. Let's see what you have here. An automatic - your weapon of choice. A Saturday Night Special, clean. An antique dueling pistol. Nice, good condition. 1798. A revolver," her voice became incredulous, "You used it to play Russian roulette with a ghost? Ah, for Wendy." Her voice slowed and lowered. "You picked her up on the same road you found me on. Something's leading me to the bottom drawer...a letter there. From a girl named Karen; she was your high school sweetheart. In the letter, it's after graduation and she's breaking it off. She was killed by a drunk driver three weeks later. You were devastated," her voice became emotional, "A lot of people close to you have died. Many of them when you were a teenager."

Sharply Derek said, "Ville, that's enough."

Following a thread, she had unconsciously jumped from the drawer directly to Nick's memories. As she pulled back toward the surface, she silently apologized and left him with the message _'We'll talk about this later if you need to.'_ She opened her eyes and breathed deeply. "I'm sorry, that was not my intention."

Nick said softly, "It's okay."

She assured the others, "I don't usually enter someone's mind without their permission." She cleared her throat and returned to her presentation voice. "If we have a life or death situation, however, and someone is unconscious or withholding vital information, I might consider making an exception. But I would not do it lightly. I can establish a connection with someone to communicate or guide them, through a healing trance, for example."

Rachel asked, "So how do you avoid all the stray thoughts of the people around you?"

"As the mind evolves, it develops its own shielding to protect itself. To establish a telepathic connection, I first have to extend my thoughts past my shielding and then I can receive or project through the connection. My thoughts become a river I can direct. Filtering incoming traffic is a natural reflex for me."

"Anything else?" Derek asked them. "Well then, Ville, I formally welcome you to this house. I'm glad you're here. That's it, everyone."

"Rachel and I have a site we want to check out before we lose the light," Nick told him.

Derek nodded toward the door. "Of course. The two of you go ahead. Alex, why don't you show Ville the labs," then to Ville, "You'll be amazed how much our tools have changed in the last thirty years."

* * *

Nick and Rachel searched the woods above the road for any clues about Ville's appearance. After three and a half hours, they hadn't found anything. Rachel leaned against a tree. "Maybe there's nothing here to find. She could've appeared out of thin air in the very spot you found her."

"Yeah, probably so. I just wanted to be sure."

Surprised, Rachel wondered, "You don't trust her? Was it because of that little intrusion?"

He reassured her. "I'm actually okay with that. Startled like hell at first; she was just suddenly there in my head."

"Was it like hearing a voice?"

"No. I could actually feel her presence."

"Nick, she violated you. She admits it was unethical," Rachel pointed out.

He shook his head. "I never felt threatened in any way. In fact, I felt very close to her, like I could've interacted with her if I'd wanted to. She was just reaching out, exploring, very sad at the things she uncovered, very empathic. When she realized what happened, she was genuinely sorry. I don't think she meant to do it." Then he smiled at her, "but thanks for watching my back, doc."

Rachel returned the smile and patted him on the back. "Just returning the favor, kiddo."

Back at the house, after dinner, the group gathered in the study.

Alex said, "You guys, this is incredible, she's already mastered all the equipment in the labs in under two hours."

Nick joked, "What'd you do, read the machines' minds?"

"I just drew on experience," Ville modestly replied.

Derek asked if Rachel and Nick had discovered anything.

"We went back to the spot where I picked up Ville," Nick said, "Nada. No belongings, no footprints, no tracks. Nothing."

To Ville, Rachel concluded, "You must've appeared right where Nick found you."

Ville nodded, "I believe so."

Derek agreed with their assessment. "I'm satisfied with that."

"Thank you both for checking," Ville said appreciatively.

She asked the group to tell her about some of the things they'd encountered. This involved an ongoing discourse about the nature of the Dark side and the interplay of Light and Dark. Ville was saying, "All things have degrees of lightness and darkness."

Derek added solemnly, "Even within ourselves."

"Like the Belgium house," Rachel whispered.

Ville sighed with regret, "Yes, I watched that house burn to the ground."

Derek leaned forward, "You were there?" he said. "I didn't know that."

She nodded, "I arrived too late. They were already united in their conversion to the Dark side, had sworn fealty to Salvador, their leader."

"Rachel discovered a statue of Christ encasing his remains hidden here in the house. It had a copy of their dark testament with a warning note," Derek told her.

Ville nodded again. "His disciples created it around him after his death. I brought it here, as a reminder to the Legacy to never forget the dangers." There was a short silence.

Alex changed the subject. "So how long did you two know each other?"

Ville smiled. "Only six months, but we were constant companions."

"Ville was my mentor. When she discovered I had the Sight, she became my Teacher and I tried to learn how to direct it as she does. My abilities weren't that strong, but she did train me to interpret the images."

"By way of practice, I used to torture him by sending him cryptic visions and making him decipher them."

Alex smirked, "Harsh mistress." Nick grinned.

"It came in very handy when I joined the Legacy. I trained myself to be more sensitive to the Dark side, to detect the presence of dark forces."

Ville frowned, "You trained yourself to be more open to the Dark side? Has the increased sensitivity ever given you a problem?"

Derek answered, "No." She sensed he was being truthful, yet he was withholding something from her. She touched his mind. He didn't think it was important. Ah.

Rachel volunteered, "He did break into my house once, distressed by visions of fire he couldn't explain. We were afraid he was becoming unstable."

Ville looked sharply at Derek. "And you didn't think this was important to tell me?"

Irritated, he said, "I discovered the reason for the flashes. An old friend of mine, Randolf Hitchcock, presented me with an ancient scroll unearthed at one of his digs. It turned out to be the confession of Cain to the killing of Abel, and it carried a curse that would drive the possessor of the scroll mad. The man who dug it up, Harper, warned me. Randolf tried to have him burned alive, but he survived. When I brought him here to confront Randolph with the truth, Harper took the scroll and threw himself into the fire to destroy it."

Ville lifted the hair over his forehead. "How long before the mark disappeared?"

"How did you know about the mark?"

"It stands to reason," she answered cryptically.

"Yes, it disappeared as soon as the scroll was destroyed. So you see, there _was_ an interpretation for the vision. Besides, it's in the past." Derek's tone signified that this part of the conversation was over. She him sent a warning look.

The talk continued until one by one, they scattered for the night. Ville stayed up all night in the drawing room with the lights out. For a few hours she meditated by staring out at the night through the tall windows. Then she closed her eyes and stretched her mind out beyond the island.

So much life. She felt Joy. Happiness. Pain. Delight. Fear. Depression. Sadness. Love. Lust. And Peace. All human - nothing from beyond this realm. Her consciousness flew back to the island.

She sat at the piano and began to play, letting the music flow through without any interference.

Nick was up as usual by 5 a.m. He got up, prepared for his morning run. Once downstairs, he heard the music. He decided to stroll that way and check it out. When he saw the lights were out, he stood just outside the doorway.

After a moment, while continuing to play, she called softly, "It's all right, Nick, come in." He turned on an antique lamp not too near. Drawing closer, he stood and listened some more. Her eyes were closed.

He said, "Couldn't sleep?"

She smiled down at the keys. "I don't need a whole lot of sleep."

"That's beautiful. Did you teach yourself?"

"I'm not the one that's playing, actually. What I do is open myself and allow the music to channel through."

"The music wants to be played." As soon as he said it, it made perfect sense.

Smiling again, she looked up at him. "That's what it _lives_ for."

He smiled back at her warmly. They listened until the music trickled away, as she closed down the flow. He clapped twice. "Brava."

She pulled her foot up onto the bench and rested her arm on her knee. "On behalf of the music, I thank you." She put both her arms around her leg. "Do you need to talk about what happened yesterday?"

Nick shrugged, "I'm curious. I wouldn't mind knowing more about it."

Ville stood and walked over to two chairs on opposite sides of a low square table. She pointed at one chair, and waited for him so that they sat at the same time.

"Let's try an experiment. Close your eyes and relax."

He closed them, took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She checked and he was completely relaxed.

"What was that?" he asked.

Ville answered softly, "Knocking," Then mentally only, _'Can I come in?'_

Out loud, he said, "Yeah."

She sat back in her chair, eyes closed, breathed in, out and reached for his mind.

It wasn't like before. Instead of being instantly there, he felt her presence slowly building in his mind until he had a full sense of her. _'That's the polite way,'_ he heard her say. Aloud, he heard, "You can open your eyes now. At ease, soldier. So you were in the military. Navy SEAL-I'm impressed. You're disciplined but a little headstrong. A little too easy with your fist and your gun. That might be a problem. You're quick to defend others. You follow the chain of command, but you left your unit because you think the leader of a mission you were on betrayed the rest of the group. They died. After you left the military, Derek invited you to join the Legacy. You're very loyal to him. Your father was also a member of this house, deceased now. Oh. He was abusive - he hit you and your mother."

Nick whispered tensely, "Yeah. He did."

Mentally she said, _'I can stop.'_

He shook his head once. "No. Go ahead."

"That's why you joined the military - to learn to defend yourself and others. You're passionate about your work and you're not afraid to confront danger to protect the innocent.

"Now let's try to turn it around. I'm going to draw you towards me. Stay relaxed. See what you can find out about me."

He felt the closeness still as she pulled him below the surface of her mind. "What do I do?" he asked.

"Start by telling me what sensations you feel."

"It feels warm. Safe. Like you're all around me."

Mentally she advised him, _'Maintain your self-identity, stay focused. You don't want to lose yourself. It's very disorienting.'_

"Ok," he closed his eyes again to concentrate better.

"Good. Now visualize yourself reaching out. You don't have to stretch, just touch my mind and see if you sense anything."

Nick tried for a few moments, then shook his head, "I think I've got something, but I don't know what. It's all a jumble, like static. I can't make any sense of it."

She went from passive to active and presented something specific for him to read. "Try this."

"I see the two of us sitting in this room right now, but I'm seeing from the other end of the room."

"Good, try again."

Nick loosened up a bit. _'Focus'_ she admonished him. "I got it under control," he said, "You're walking the grounds here with a boy. It's a perfect day to be outside. That's gotta be Derek," he paused. "He wasn't such a bad looking kid."

"Hold it together, Nick," she warned.

He took another deep breath. "You're giving him a lesson or something. The two of you are down at the gazebo now. Laughing." He paused. "He likes the time you spend with him because you treat him like an equal and respect his intellect."

 _'Very good'_ she whispered to him.

"You enjoyed teaching him, missed him when he went back to school."

 _'Yes, that's right. Keep going.'_

He was starting to swim on his own. "There's some kind of...light, very bright. Calm. You feel very close to it. That's your dad?" He lost the image. "Whoa, what happened?"

 _'You're back in your own skin. You lost your focus. I had to get you out of there.'_ They had traded places again; she was back in his mind.

"Wow. That was...amazing. But I wasn't doing that on my own." He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

"The first try, you were completely on your own. When you couldn't interpret what you sensed, I presented you with a simpler image, then something more complicated. That's where you started exploring on your own. But," she leaned toward him, beaming, "when you went from my feelings about teaching Derek to my feelings about my father, you made that jump on your own." She seemed very pleased. "Unfortunately you were so startled by the image, you lost your concentration."

Nick grinned, "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

Derek's voice boomed from the doorway, "Ville, I want to talk to you," obviously displeased.

"Uh-oh," Nick mumbled. He turned and stood as Derek walked into the room. "Derek, it was my idea."

Sternly, Derek said, "I know. Would you please leave us, Nick?"

Nick looked at Ville apologetically.

 _'It's okay,'_ she said and broke the connection. "Go on." He left reluctantly and closed the door.

"What do you think you're doing?" Derek demanded of her.

"Please sit down."

He took Nick's chair. "I'm listening."

"Derek, he came to me and asked for the knowledge. You know that beneath the Protector, I'm also a Teacher."

"And the incident yesterday morning?"

Ville checked herself from anger; Derek had a right to be concerned. "That was an accident and he knows that. He's fine. For all we know, I may be here to teach him."

"Nick has exceptional intellect and instincts but he has never exhibited any psychic ability."

"Are you sure? Because on the way over here, he detected one of my thoughts."

"What?"

Ville described the moment in the helicopter. "He didn't understand what it was but he sensed it. And just now he leaped from one of my memories to another on his own."

Derek's demeanor changed as he considered this. "There may have been a tenuous connection you weren't aware of, formed perhaps when you first encountered each other. But you're exposing him to unnecessary danger and I can't have that."

"But he might learn," she insisted, "And you're not above sending someone into the unknown to test and strengthen them."

Guiltily he looked away. She touched him; he let her in. Apparently he had sent Alex into just such a situation not very long ago. It turned very dangerous and she could have been killed, but she and the man she was trying to help survived. Alex had hated Derek for it at first, but as he had told her, she drew a great deal of strength and confidence from the ordeal and became a better field agent for it.

Derek cut Ville off. She laid her hand on his arm. "I would never endanger any of these people. You can count on me."

His jaw tensed. He looked her right in the eye and nodded once. "All right then."

Nick was waiting when they came out. Derek acknowledged him.

"So are we grounded?" Nick joked.

"Nick, if you want to continue these—studies—that's up to you. But the Legacy was built to protect mankind from powers such as Ville's kind possess. Although she's aligned with the Light side, those powers can still be dangerous to a human. Remember that."

Respectfully, Nick said, "Yes, sir."

Derek gave Ville a parting look and walked away. When he was out of earshot, Nick asked, "What did you two say to each other in there?"

With a grin and a twinkle in her eye, she put her arm across his shoulders, "Basically, I just had to promise to watch your back."

She did precisely that two weeks later when she saved his life.

* * *

They were investigating an electromagnetic anomaly. Ville pointed, "It seems to be localized in that warehouse."

Nick stopped the Explorer and they went in. They split up and searched the vast building.

"Nick, in here," she called. He joined her in the opening to an area sectioned off by cinderblock partitions. In the corner, a small vortex pulsed in a circular motion. Nick brushed past her, "What the hell is that?"

She followed. "A portal."

"To where?" He bent down to take a good look.

"From where?" she countered, going down on one knee to the side and peered into it. "A living creature wouldn't survive the passage through. I can't tell what's on the other side." Her eyes fastened on him. "It's an _exit_."

"Nobody goes in, but something comes out?"

Ville passed her hand to the side of it—nothing. She held up her hand in front of the phenomenon and slowly, carefully extended her arm towards the center.

"Don't reach inside it," Nick warned. They stared intently into it.

"I just want to get closer, see if I can sense anything." As her hand drew closer, she felt an electrical itch. The portal convulsed and she jolted backward. Nick reached over to steady her. "Something just bounced off me," she started to say. The vortex roiled and convulsed again, then suddenly an enormous force exploded outward.

On the floor already, Ville was thrown to one side but Nick received the full brunt of the blow. It literally punched him through the cinder wall.

Ville rolled over and yelled, "Nick!" She started to go to him, glancing at the vortex. A steady wind streamed out of it. "Oh, my God," she whispered and crawled to it. The portal was now three feet in diameter and growing. The forces within it were becoming more turbulent and agitated. She had to close it now or never.

Kneeling in front of it, she raised her hands to help focus her energies on the opening. With a breath, she began mentally pushing, to force the portal to collapse on itself. It shrank slowly at first, then quickly and she was able to seal it. Leaning on her hands, she caught her breath and struggled to go to Nick.

When Ville dropped to his side, he was unconscious. She laid one hand on his forehead and established a link. No response, he was completely unaware. She passed her other hand over his body. He had a massive concussion, possible spinal damage, internal bleeding. "No," she whispered. Steeling herself, she gathered the rest of her strength and worked on stopping the bleeding. Her hand rested lightly on his abdomen as she concentrated on sealing arteries and ruptures of his organs. After working over him slowly and methodically for an hour, she paused to rest. Her strength was almost gone. She immobilized Nick and laid him out in the back of the Explorer, keeping a cushion of air underneath him. Pulling her cell phone from her pocket, she called Derek and told him to meet her at the Emergency room with Rachel.

When Nick woke up, he was in a hospital room and sore as hell. He could barely turn his head. Rachel was with him. "Hey," she said.

"Hey."

"How do you feel?"

"Like Mike Tyson's punching bag."

"Humour, that's a good sign. You've got a concussion. X-rays show no damage to the spine. You're covered in bruises, of course, but you're going to pull through just fine." She smiled.

"Great," he said sarcastically. Quietly he asked, "What about the portal, did she close it?" He felt reluctant to ask about her directly. He had a bad feeling.

Rachel answered, "Yes, she did," paused, then continued, "She also stopped your massive internal bleeding; otherwise you wouldn't have made it to the emergency room. She collapsed shortly after we arrived."

Nick closed his eyes and swallowed. "So how is she?"

Handing him a glass of water, she told him, "They kept her overnight for observation. She registers as human all right—"

"Rachel—"

"She's resting. Derek took her home the next day. Nick, Ville will be fine," she assured him.

"How long have I been out?"

"Seventy-two hours.

He closed his eyes and moaned.

* * *

Derek brought Ville's lunch to her room. "I don't remember ordering room service," she said.

"You're very weak. Why not let your body take care of itself in the conventional manner while your mind rests?"

"Still," she insisted, "You didn't have to bring it yourself. I could've come downstairs."

"Don't be silly," he poured her a cup of tea. "When am I ever going to have the opportunity to take care of _you_ , the way you took care of me?" He smiled fondly.

Accepting the cup from him, she said, "You didn't really need my help all that much." She sipped the tea. A Chinese blend.

"Oh yes I did," he contradicted. He pulled a chair to her bedside and sat next to her. "Those six months were the closest thing I had to a childhood."

Ville nodded. "I knew your father had taught you about the Legacy and intended you to follow in his footsteps. I also knew that if you did, his obsession would become your obsession. When I met you, you were fifteen years old and experiencing one of the most devastating losses a child can face. You were so hurt by his death, you considered turning your back on the Legacy."

Surprised, Derek understood, "You wouldn't have stopped me."

She shook her head, "No, because it was up to you to choose your destiny. You chose what was right for you."

He paused for a moment while she finished her tea, thinking. There was something that had been on his mind from time to time. Something he could confide to no one.

She nudged his mind. _'What is it?'_

He presented her with a series of memories:

 _Alicia—Randolf Hitchcock's fiancee, killed on assignment under Derek's supervision. She was supposed to wait by the jeep for Derek and Randolf to return. Instead, she went searching for Derek and was trapped in a burning building. The structure collapsed on her. Randolf blamed Derek—there was a matter of jealousy involved—and left the Legacy as a result. This was why he had sought revenge on Derek with the curse of the scroll._

 _Julia—Nick's field partner, killed in Ireland during the search for the fifth sepulcher. Unknown to them all, the demon had been released by and possessed a local man. When Julia discovered the sepulcher in his keeping, the demon killed her. Derek and Nick found her body mounted on a cross in a field, like a scarecrow. Later Nick told Derek, "You shouldn't have separated us. We've should've stayed together."_

 _Rachel—In an attempt to draw her into the Legacy, he had asked Nick to invite her along while following up on some atmospheric disturbances in an area associated with periodic disappearances. They discovered a lost American colonial village under the sway of a religious zealot. Nick had been imprisoned. When Rachel refused to succumb to the reverend, he sentenced her to be burned at the stake. Derek arrived just in time. "I could've been killed," she'd said._

 _Then, of course, there was the recent incident with Alex._

 _'But you don't worry about Philip or Nick. That's a little chauvinistic, don't you think?'_

Derek shifted, "Maybe. I know Nick can take care of himself—despite yesterday. As for Philip, I regret his leaving the Legacy, but he had to choose his path..." He realized she's lead right back where they had started.

She grinned, "Welcome to my world."

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.

"Alex is at a very critical stage of her development now. It's going to get very hard for you. You may feel indecision; you may wonder 'am I doing what's best for her?' When that happens, just remind yourself that like you, if Alex wasn't meant to be here, she wouldn't have chosen this path. That's why we call them 'invitations'."

They visited more while she ate.

When Nick came home the next day, Ville was finally up, but still weak. "Well, you look like hell," she greeted him.

He retorted, "You don't look so hot yourself."

"It's good to see you both on your feet, but I want you two to take it easy for the next several days," Derek ordered. As he watched them, he had a flash of Ville and Nick in bed together. He turned away from the others and scowled, trying to hang onto the image, but it was gone.

Late in the evening, Alex found Nick in the control room, running a search through the Legacy Data Network. "Hey guy, what are you working on?"

Sighing heavily and then regretting it, he said, "I was running a search on the area where that vortex appeared, to see if there's a history of unexplained accidents or events there."

"Turn up anything?"

"Nah, it's just a routine follow-up anyway. No big deal."

"You want to see a big deal? Here's what I've been working on in my spare time." She sat at the terminal next to him and called up a personal folder. When she opened it and he saw the file names, he remarked, "You're creating a dossier on Ville?"

Enthusiastically, she said, "Yeah. I wanted to see if there are any references to her in the archives. Then I wanted to run an analysis to see if there are any commonalties. I hoped to figure out what kinds of events draw her here."

"Any luck?"

"There are only a dozen instances where she's mentioned by name. Oh, get this," she opened a file, "The most interesting one is from the journal of a Legacy member of the Ruling house in London, dated early 1702. He repeats the story he heard in America about a woman named Ville who appeared in New England in the late 1600's. She reportedly saved several women accused of witchcraft from various villages and colonies throughout the area. No one ever found those women again, however, _she_ was caught and burned at the stake."

"What?" Nick stood up to look over her shoulder.

"It says, 'As proof of her witchery, she never screamed once, nor spoke a word. When the fire died down, there were no human remains to be found amoung the ashes.' She must've teleported out." Alex was enchanted.

"Wow."

She continued, "The other mentions are more mundane—she's recovered a few key artifacts for the Legacy..."

"Any mention of her connection with the Belgium house?" Nick asked.

"Only from the minutes of a meeting in Rome that took place afterwards where a debate raged about whether to protect Legacy members by limiting our functions to observing and chronicling supernatural phenomenon. She argued in favor of continued intervention."

"Apparently, she won the day."

"Her closing statement is recorded: 'The Legacy's destiny is to help mankind achieve its destiny. In the future, Evil will grow to heights we can't even imagine today. Man will be helpless against the forces of Darkness without the knowledge the Legacy possesses. We must continue to acquire more knowledge, but more importantly we must learn when to use that knowledge, not to be afraid to use it. The Fate of Mankind depends on it.' She must have been a powerful influence to shape the Legacy like that."

"That sounds like her, all right," Nick murmured. "Did the cross-check give you anything?"

"Nothing statistically significant. Just something curious I noticed: in seven of the twelve hits, she's mentioned in connection with a Legacy member. I ran their names through an analysis and found an interesting correlation. They all became the next leader of their Legacy house. Derek brings that total up to eight."

Nick leaned on the desktop. An insight struck him. "Are those accounts dated before or after the Rome meeting?"

Alex tapped a few keys and turned to him, "After. They're all after. What do you think, is she a cosmic King maker?"

"Nah, you said so yourself, there's not enough hits to get a significant statistic. There may be early accounts that have been lost. Derek says she's been around forever."

"Not her. Her people, he said. My God, Nick," Alex said in awe "What if she is here to choose the next leader of this house?"

"Whoa," Nick said emphatically. "You're getting way ahead of yourself, Alex. He was only fifteen when he knew her. He didn't assume his position here until his early thirties, so there's nothing to worry about. Nothing's gonna happen to Derek."

"I suppose you're right. I'm just getting ahead of myself." She hated it when he and Derek dismissed an argument of hers out of hand.  
So Nick added, "Besides, she adored him when he was a kid; she wouldn't let anything happen to him. He'll probably die at 150 of old age translating some old book."

Alex laughed. "She told you that, huh? That she was fond of Derek?"

Shifting his weight, he answered vaguely, "Sort of. You really like her, don't you?"

"Are you kidding? She's what I want to be when I grow up!" she joked.

Nick smirked, "Well, supposedly your great-great-great-great-great grandkids will be."

"I'd be satisfied with that."

"Thanks for sharing." He headed toward the holographic entrance to the control room. Alex' hypothesis was based on speculation, but Nick found it disturbed him a little bit.

He walked to Derek's office and knocked on the open door, "Hey, do you have a minute?"

Derek gestured to a chair, "Of course, sit down. What's on your mind?"

Nick hesitated, then asked, "How much do you really know about Ville? Not just what she is, but who she is? Alex has been doing some research. Ville's been associated with the Legacy a long time, it seems."

Smiling, Derek said, "You could say that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ville is one of the one hundred founders of the Legacy."

Stunned, Nick looked away. "So she has a vested interest in the Legacy."

"I wouldn't put it like that," Derek leaned back in his chair. "Her people have many of the same goals as the Legacy. But they are honour bound not to interfere with our self-determination. It's up to us to choose our destiny.

"As for Ville herself, I only knew her six months, but I found her to be kind, gentle, patient and understanding. She has no hidden agenda, Nick, but if you have a problem working with her I need to know now."

Nick shook his head vigorously, "No, it's not that. We make a good team. I guess I'm still a little freaked out about what happened at the warehouse. You know, I could just as easily gone on that assignment alone. What if I supposed to die that day?"

"Believe me," Derek told him seriously, "if that had been your fate, she would've had no choice. She would have let you die. But it's possible that if you had gone alone, the accident might not have even happened."

"You mean she might have caused it somehow." Nick shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"I don't know. I warned you her powers were dangerous, but it is her nature to protect, not to kill." When Nick didn't answer, Derek encouraged him to go talk to her. Nick got up to leave. "Thanks." He went upstairs.

Ville sensed him coming down the hall and willed her door open. He leaned in, "You're not supposed to be doing that."

Impishly she spread her hands and shrugged, "I have to exercise my muscles once in awhile."

"Can I come in and talk to you?" His tone turned serious.

She waved him in, "You can always talk to me, Nick."

Establishing a distance, he pulled a chair from the corner, turned it around and straddled it. "I wanna know why you're here."  
Puzzled by his behaviour, she answered simply, "I'm here to help."

"Alex has linked you with seven different Legacy members who became the next leader of their house after their contact with you."

"There's nothing odd about that. I've been in contact with the Legacy since its founding. I've known members from all over the world throughout the centuries."

"Why didn't you tell us you helped found the Legacy?" Nick asked suspiciously.

"Many people helped found the Legacy, amoung them my father and myself. We mainly acted as advisors and sounding boards. Nothing more."

"Let me in," he challenged. His whole demeanor had become combative. She knew where this was going and suppressed a smile. He'd only misinterpret it.

"All right." She rearranged herself against the headboard, blew the breath out of her body and slowly drew it in again. Eyes closed, with her mind she reached out, drew him in and gave him time to focus before she released him and went passive. _'Don't spend your strength looking for something that isn't there. Learn to look at what is there.'_ He continued to tighten his concentration; he determined to do this on his own.

Slowly she said, _'Derek was destined to lead this house the day he was born. I had nothing to do with it; his father had everything to do with it. When Winstan laid the burden on him, he was much too young. My job was merely to help him to discover his true path. I have no say in who leads a Legacy house nor have I any interest in the politics of it.'_ She opened her eyes. "Well? Am I telling you the truth?"

"Guess I'll have to believe that." He wasn't able to read her well enough to tell, so he relied on old-fashioned instincts. "So, you want to kick me out now?"

The Teacher instructed, "Find your own way out."

"How do I do that?"

"How do you think you should do it?"

"Great," he grumbled. He tried staring into her eyes. She shook her head, "You're going the wrong way. The eyes are the entrance to the soul."

"I thought it was 'mirror to the soul'."

She shrugged it off, "Poetic license."

Frustrated, ready to give up, he accidentally sent across, _'Screw it.'_

 _'Watch it.'_

 _'Sor-ry.'_ He imagined himself floating on a random current. _'Let's just go exploring again. Where's that image of your dad again?'_

Out loud she said, "I'm not finding anything for you. Do it yourself." She remained passive but ready to assist if he got distressed.

 _'I got an idea.'_ He tried to reach out.

 _'You're working too hard. You are already where you need to be. Just call for it.'_

 _'I want the moment after I went through that wall.'_

He surpassed her expectations—by calling for a memory of himself, his chances of interpreting it correctly rose exponentially. She held her breath.

In fits and starts, it came to him. He could sense how she'd been torn between her desire to go to him and her need to neutralize the danger. _'You made the right decision, Ville.'_ He could feel the strain as she expended most of her energy closing the vortex. _'You were so weak afterwards.'_ Next, Nick was almost overcome by the despair she felt when she realized the extent of his injuries. Her determination. Her will. Her promise to Derek.

His perspective expanded radically. He realized on the deepest levels where he was and what he was doing - sharing her mind, her thoughts about him. She became like an open book, written in a language he didn't quite understand. Yet.

On the verge of losing his cohesion, she whispered, "Don't lose yourself, Nick." He pulled it together and opened his eyes, still connected. He walked over and sat next to her, touched her cheek tenderly. "Thanks for saving my life," he whispered softly. Leaning forward he kissed her lightly on the mouth. Then, grinning slyly, he asked, "Now get me the hell out here."

Ville laughed mirthfully and accompanied him back across the link. "Thanks." He got up to leave. They were still connected. As he got halfway to the door, she stopped him. "Nick?"

He simply said, "I know," and left. So the connection remained open.

In the room across the hall, Derek clenched his eyes shut and entered a fitful sleep.

In the middle of the night, Ville experienced a vision, a dark, cold vision of her and Nick in bed together. "No, this isn't right. This is not supposed to happen." He nuzzled her ear and whispered huskily, "Yes, it is." She turned away. It was definitely not Nick. This creature was very, very dark. Steeling herself for the confrontation, she looked up. Into Derek's face.

"It was always meant to be this way," he said.

"No!" She forced the vision away and banished it. "What's happening?" She crossed the hall; Derek needed to know about this. She found his door standing open, his room empty.

He waited for her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Derek, something's happening—."

"Yes, I know. And you're the cause of it." His voice cut through the air.

Stunned, she gasped, "What?"

He stared up at her coldly. "It started the day you arrived, didn't it?" his voice rose, "Ever since you got here, you've been undermining my authority. Defying me openly. Now you think you can turn Nick against me and take control of this house. Well, I'm telling you, it's not going to work."

Numb, she said, "Derek, you know that's not true." When she tried to touch his mind, she received a mental blow that nearly knocked her backwards.

"Don't try that again."

"What is going on down here?!" Alex descended the stairs.

Derek looked her way in alarm and strode quickly into the library, locking himself in.

"What are you two fighting about?"

"I don't know who that man is but he is not Derek Rayne." Ville quickly put the pieces together. "Alex, this is important. Rachel's just arrived on the ferry. Call her, tell her we have an emergency standby. Go now," she urged.

"Right," Alex nodded.

Silently Ville called, _'Nick, get down here. I need you.'_ She examined the library door. Nothing but rage on the other side. "Derek. Derek, open the door, we need to talk." No answer. Impatiently, she threatened, "You know I can unlock this door from the inside if I have to."

Nick came down the stairs three at a time. "What the hell is going on?"

Ruefully, she responded, "You're the third person who's asked that question in the last twenty minutes." She called out one more time. "Derek!" Losing her temper, she violently turned the locking mechanism mentally and threw the door open. The sight of him chilled their blood. He was bent, fists clenched to his head, his face a portrait of agony and pain. Nick followed her inside.

Calmer now, she implored him, "Tell me what's happening to you, Derek."

"Stay away from me!" he shouted.

Gently but firmly, Nick told him, "Take it easy. We're trying to help you." Ville moved around the conference table towards Derek.  
Derek turned on Nick, "You. You're in this with her! I took you in, treated you like a son. And this is how you repay me?" he ranted.

Nick clenched his fists, but refused to take the bait. "That's nuts."

"No. You're mad," he said as Alex had entered the room. "You all are. You've fallen under her spell; you'll do whatever she says. But she will lead you straight to the Dark side!"

Ville stepped closer to him. He whirled as if to attack her. She raised her hand to stop his approach. He recoiled from the possibility of her touch.

"Derek, let me in. I can help you."

He growled, "No. Never."

She hurled her voice at him. "I'm not talking to you. I want to speak to Derek Rayne. Now!" Mentally she lunged and caught the edge of his consciousness. His blood pressure was sky high, his body pumped full of adrenaline. All his systems were overloading. "You're killing your host. What will you do then?"

Fear appeared in his eyes. The creature retreated with each step she took. Nick shadowed him on the other side of the table.

"You've got to open up to me, Derek," she tried to tie the connection. "Let me in. Let me help," like a siren, she called to him.

Nick made his move and locked his arms around Derek's chest and upper arms, but Derek broke free. He tried to jump through the window. Ville grabbed his arm; the creature screamed, "No! I won't let you destroy me!" She reached into the darkness of his mind to find Derek.

Rachel raced in, assessed the situation and prepared a hypodermic needle. "Nick, you're gonna have to hold him down!"

"I've got him!" Nick yelled back.

As Rachel injected him, Derek looked up at Ville and gasped, "Help me."

 _'I'm coming for you'_ was the last thing he heard before he collapsed. She cradled his head in her hands. Panting, Ville informed Rachel, "His blood pressure, adrenaline level, everything's completely off the scale."

Rachel promised, "This will keep him under for a long time."

"I'll help you get him upstairs," Nick said to Rachel.

"I want Rachel to stay with him," Ville said.

"And me, too," Nick insisted.

Ville shook her head. "If that creature regains any level of awareness at all, your presence will only agitate it. And Derek's in enough agony as it is—he won't be able to fight it much longer. Rachel can handle it." Silently, Nick relented.

Alex placed a shawl around her shoulders and helped her into a chair at the corner of the table. "Ville, you're so tired. What can I do?"

"Let me rest a few minutes. Then we need to make another phone call."

* * *

Ville's voice carried into the hall, "—you know I wouldn't call you like this if it wasn't a matter of life or death."

"Who's on the other end?" Nick asked Alex when he joined them in the front office. Alex just looked at him and said, "You're not gonna like it."

Ville's back was to them. "I'm happy you've resolved your inner conflicts and I know how important your work is to you. I'm not asking you to choose again, Philip." Nick groaned at that. "But he is your friend and we desperately need you." Father Philip Callahan, born and raised in Belfast, had left the Legacy twice now. Tormented for years, his loyalties divided along so many lines, he ultimately chose the Church and Ireland over the Legacy.

"He's in grave danger, Philip," she turned toward Alex and Nick. "We could lose him to the Dark side forever."

Fourteen hours later, Philip arrived. They met on the lawn when the chopper touched down. Alex went to him and they embraced. Philip nodded to Rachel, Ville, then Nick. Ville welcomed him. "Thank you for coming. We're glad you're here."

"Most of you anyway," he glanced sidelong at Nick. Frowning, Nick only said, "Why does it always take a tragedy to get you back here?" and walked away.

Ville asked concisely, "What's the problem between you and Nick?"

Philip gently addressed her concern, "Just differing philosophical points of view. I'd like to go pray over Derek before we begin."

"We're gathering in the drawing room instead of the library." She didn't think any of them could bear to look at that empty chair at the head of the table.

Rachel opened the meeting with her professional opinion of the group's disposition. "We're all feeling disturbed by what's happened. It's perfectly natural; Derek's always been there for us and now he's helpless. We have to stick together if we're going to help him. I think we should start by covering what we actually know before we try to speculate on what's happening." She looked to Ville.

"For me, it started last night when I had an unsettling vision of...myself and Derek. It took a great deal of effort to drive it away. I went to find him, to tell him about it. He was waiting for me. Angry. He accused me of trying to replace him as leader of this house."

Alex glanced at Nick.

Philip argued, "But he knows that's not possible."

Rachel leaned forward, "How so?"

He explained, "Amoung the group that founded the Legacy, there were seven Immortals. They added a clause to the charter specifically stating that no Immortal may ever lead a Legacy house."

"Why would they do that?" Nick asked.

Ville answered, "My father told the assembly 'Our people cannot carry nor lead you to your destiny. We are but Teachers and Protectors'."

"And Derek was aware of this clause?" Rachel pressed.

"Yes," Philip assured her.

Ville went on to finish recounting the events, "Alex came down and all hell broke loose. Derek locked himself in the library. We broke in, tried to talk to him. Rachel arrived and sedated him."

"What was his state of mind like throughout this episode?" Rachel asked.

"During the initial exchange, he was furious. He claimed that I had undermined and defied his authority. I began to suspect I wasn't talking to Derek."

"In the library, he was completely paranoid. He accused me of betraying him," Nick added.

"Because of the experiments you two are doing?" Alex suggested.

"What kind of experiments?" Philip wanted to know.

Ville felt a flush of embarrassment coming from Nick. He didn't want her to go into it. "Increased mental sensitivity. Interpreting mental images. Intuitive communication," she answered.

"In other words, mind reading," Philip said to Nick.

"I'm not very good at it, if that's what you want to know," Nick sniped.

Rachel nudged them back on track. "So how could this affect Derek?"

"I don't know. He's good at sensing and interpreting my thoughts, but he shouldn't be able to receive them without my projecting them or through a link from me, same as Nick." Something struck her as odd, but she couldn't explain what. So she continued, "When I tried to make contact, I encountered a vast darkness. Nothing more. I couldn't find him. At the last moment, he managed to reach out to me but just barely. I'm going to have to go back in there, try to reach him again and see if I can help him find his way out."

"So you're going in blind without any backup. I don't like it," Nick said.

"It doesn't sound like we have much choice," Rachel whispered.

He sighed. "Alex and I can wire his room for full environmental surveillance, in addition to the medical gear."

"Good. Rachel, I want you and Philip with me. Let's get started."

An hour later they were ready to go. Praying in Latin, Philip anointed Derek's forehead with holy water in the form of a cross. He blessed Ville as she centered herself.

Placing her hands to either side of Derek's head, she settled her gaze on his eyes and moved past the surface. His mind was in chaos. She couldn't read anything. The darkness she encountered before had permeated every thought, every memory. She decided to take her chances in his subconscious.

 _The boy cried, 'Help me.'_

 _'I'm here,' she followed the thread, 'Derek?'_

 _He came running out of the shadows, fifteen years old again, and threw himself into her arms. 'Ville, I'm scared.'_

 _'I know you are. You've been through a terrible ordeal. I've come back to help you.'_

 _Frantically he told her, 'I can't find my way. I've looked everywhere.'_

 _She took his hand, 'Come with me.'_

 _Just before they reached the boundary back to his conscious mind, another image of Derek, as a man, appeared and blocked them. He was cruel, arrogant, evil. 'You're not taking him anywhere.'_

 _'Stand aside and let us pass,' she commanded._

 _'You can go, but the boy stays,' it answered her._

 _'I'm not leaving without him,' she insisted._

 _'Then you'll be staying to watch him die.'_

 _Young Derek moved in front of Ville. Forcefully he declared, 'I defy you! I reject you!'_

 _The entity chuckled, 'Oh, it's not so simple, my young friend.'_

 _Ville placed her hands on the boy's shoulders and deepened her connection to him._

 _'Stop it!' the entity demanded. A wave of darkness slammed into her, nearly stripping her away from Derek. 'Hang on to me, Derek, don't lose this thread.' 'I'm trying,' he shouted above the storm, 'but you're slipping away.'_

 _'Be strong, Derek, believe in yourself. Don't surrender your self-identity.'_

Outside, the heart monitor indicated that Derek was going into cardiac arrest. Rachel moved towards the bed but Philip stopped her. Rachel said, "Philip, he's dying now." Philip whispered back, "There's nothing you can do for him, Rachel. We've got to let her finish."

 _A man's voice said, 'Ah, Derek, how I hate to see you struggle so.'_

 _'Father?'_

 _Ville fought to reach his side. 'That's not your father. Don't go to him, whatever you do!'_

 _An image of Winstan Rayne emerged from the darkness._

 _'Father!'_

 _Ville forced herself to close the distance just in time to catch him. He struggled, 'Let me go. I want my father.'_

 _She whispered soothingly in his ear. 'I know you do, angel, but your father's dead, remember?' The image of his father beckoned to him. The boy tried to reach out to him._

 _'No, Derek, he's gone,' she hated to do this to him. She recreated the scene of his father's death from his memories._

 _Derek moaned, 'No—.' He watched himself kneeling at his father's side and heard those dying words again: 'The burden is upon you.' The father passed the ring to his son._

 _The boy in her arms looked down at the Legacy ring on his finger and chose the same path he had chosen thirty years ago. Determinedly he faced her. 'I want to go back with you.'_

 _'We don't have much time,' she instructed him, 'You're dying and this is going to be a very difficult trip for you. Don't be distracted by what you think you see, don't try to interpret anything. Just focus on getting to the surface.'_

 _He nodded gravely, 'I'm ready.'_

 _The entity reappeared in Derek's adult form._

 _Ville stated, 'You have no power over me. Stand aside.'_

 _'That's what you think,' it snarled and leapt at her._

 _She reached out to dispel it and was thrown backwards._

 _'Are you all right?' Derek asked. 'What happened?'_

 _'Something just bounced off me—.' Stretching out her senses, she could not detect the entity. 'It's okay now, Derek, take us out.'_

"He's conscious," Rachel said. Ville dropped her head on his chest. He put an arm around her. "Ville, are you all right?"

She lifted her head and answered with joy in her voice, "I am now."

"Welcome back to the land of the living, old friend."

"Philip," Derek sounded genuinely surprised.

Ville glanced at Rachel, "Something unusual happened on this side?"

Rachel nodded, "His heart stopped just before the two of you came out of it."

Ville laid her left hand on his brow and her other hand over his heart. She examined him carefully, then spread herself out along every blood vessel down to the capillaries. She shifted her hands to his head- front, side, back and the base of the skull. She pulled back with a puzzled look on her face.

Raising an eyebrow, Derek prompted her, "Well?"

"Your vascular system is fine, no damage..."

"And the entity we saw?"

"Gone. That's what troubles me."

Philip said, "We didn't detect anything else unusual here."

Derek sat up carefully with Rachel's help. To Ville, he said, "You think it survived, don't you?" She didn't know. He asked Philip to check with Nick and Alex. "See if they detected anything and let me know the results."

Ville added, "And have them make a sweep of the island, too."

"Good idea," Derek agreed.

Philip nodded and left the room. Rachel accompanied him—it didn't take a psychic to guess that Derek and Ville might need a little closure.

Ville hugged him tucking her head under his chin. He returned the embrace and kissed the top of her head. "Thanks for coming back for me." _(The boy running to her from the shadows.)_

She raised her head and swore to him with all sincerity and honesty, "I would never abandon you to the Dark side."

They talked about the experience until Nick showed up at the door.

He informed them, "The system picked up an electromagnetic pulse at the same time your heart stopped."

Ville said, "I'm guessing that coincides with the entity's disappearance."

Nick continued, "We scanned the whole island. No unusual electro-magnetic activity detected."

Sighing, Derek said, "So we can't track it. Have Alex intensify her usual searches with an eye toward anything that resembles the symptoms I showed."

"We'll have to weed through all the normal weirdness," Nick said.

"That's all we can do for now - wait for it to show itself again." Derek rubbed his forehead. "If the two you will excuse me, I probably should get some rest."

They stepped outside and moved away down the hall some.

Nick asked, "Do you wanna go out and get something to eat?"

'What did you have, ah, in mind?' she punned.

"Very funny. We could grab some burgers."

"Oh, how romantic," she teased.

"So you don't have a policy against dating your students?" he retorted slyly.

She looked up at the ceiling, "Hmm. I don't recall seeing it last time I checked the teacher's handbook."

He put his arm across her shoulders, "Then it's a date. Let's take the ferry. The moon's full tonight."

"Ooh, now that's more like it," she laughed.

As the ferry crossed the bay, they watched San Francisco draw nearer. Nick leaned at the rail. Ville sensed he wanted to say something, but hadn't decided how. _'Penny for your thoughts,'_ she whispered.

He laughed. "I'm starting to feel more...aware...of you. On my way upstairs, I could tell that you and Derek were having a pretty emotional discussion. I couldn't hear the words or anything but it feels real strange."

Concerned, she asked, "Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"It makes me feel like this," he reached over and kissed her deeply.

When he was done, she held her breath. She recalled her counsel to Derek ironically. "The connection is very intensely intimate but," she warned him again, "don't lose yourself in me, Nick."

"I want to," he whispered. When he kissed her again, she responded in kind. Their thoughts mingled; she wrapped herself around him, then released him.

Their mouths parted. She placed her forehead against his and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. She admitted, "It would be very easy for me to fall in love with you. We need to think about this carefully, and separately, before we decide whether to take this any further."

Instead of disembarking on the mainland, they returned to the island.

* * *

When Ville first met Philip years ago, he too was considering leaving the Legacy. He'd broken his vows as a priest. He returned to Ireland on a pilgrimage. The young lady involved drowned herself. When Ville sensed his enormous conflict, she approached him as a friend of the Legacy. The Father found himself confessing to the Founder. Troubled now herself, Ville sought Philip's counsel.  
He was on the upper level of the library, reading one the ancient texts he loved translating so much. Books were to him what the computer archives were to Alex.

Ville knelt by his chair. He looked at her questioningly, "What can I do for you?"

"I need someone to talk to," she confided. She bowed her head, and intoned, "Forgive me, Father..." He raised her chin, "You have nothing to confess," he said whispered gently. "It's Nick, isn't it?"

She gazed past him, blindly at the bookshelves. Tears came to her eyes. "It's always about making the right decisions, isn't it?"

"No, not always."

She poured forth, "Philip, I've watched so many of them die over the centuries. Or had to leave them behind. None of them has ever known me for what I am. He does. But what right do I have?"

"What right do you have to be happy, you mean?" He held her hand between his larger hands. "Even you have to accept the cards God deals you from time to time. Why not let this be one of those times?"

Her eyelids drooped. "My soul is so tired and weary," she whispered, laying her head on his knee. Slowly she began to fall...

* * *

 _Nick drifted in sleep and dreamed of her in a room filled with candlelight. She sat in the middle of her bed, dressed in a white gown._  
 _"Expecting company?" he jested._

 _She smiled seductively, "I knew you'd figure it out." Like the sea and the wind, she billowed toward him, pulling the gown just off her shoulders. Her lips brushed his as she drew near. He closed the gap and took her into his arms. As he kissed her, he reached into her mind, but could not sense her. At the moment all he cared about was bedding her. After all, this was just a dream, right?_

 _She breathed, "Yes," over and over in his ear. As he made love to her, he sensed the darkness all around them. She arched her head back, exposing her throat. "Kiss me," she whispered. He kissed the hollow of her throat. "Kill me," she panted._

 _"What?"_

 _Bringing her head up, she dared him, "Do it now, while you still have the chance." She smiled cruelly._

 _"What the hell-?" He withdrew from her and said, "This isn't right," he realized._

Nick shook himself awake and sat up on the edge of the bed. A psychic scream rocked him. Instantly he bolted out the door.  
Alex staggered into the hall, clutching her stomach. Nick reached to steady her against the wall. Alex said, "She's in trouble."

"I know," he said, looking down the hall.

Derek came out of Ville's room, "She's not here, Nick, do you know where she is?"

"Yeah, I do." He headed to the library, with Derek close behind. Nick called to her across the link, _'Hang on, we're coming.'_ Her mind was chaos; he couldn't make sense of anything.

"She's here," Philip called from the upper level.

When Nick saw her, he moaned, "No, not again." She sat on the top step, head in her hands, elbows on her knees. Philip crouched behind her, holding her shoulders, speaking softly and comfortingly to her. Nick knelt on the step below her, shocked to find fear in her eyes. "It hurts," she told him with difficulty, "It's much stronger than before."

Derek surmised, "It's back. Ville, what are we dealing with?"

Putting her hands together, she summoned up all her self-control. "It's purely psychic. Intelligent, feeds off psychic energy. It has the ability to camouflage itself; it was so weak before, I never noticed its presence." She rocked back and forth. "It came through the vortex. When I linked with Derek, it migrated to him," she realised, "I'm the carrier."

"That's not your fault," Philip whispered very quietly to her as she continued.

Her words came more quickly. "If I had just realised it earlier, I could have dispelled it. Now, that it's fed off Derek, it's much stronger."

"What does it want?" Nick asked her.

"It wants out," a pain surged through her, "but I can contain it," she insisted.

"How long?" Derek asked.

"Years, a century maybe," she winced as a slighter pain stabbed her mind.

Philip adamantly insisted, "You can't exist like this; it'd be a living hell. There's got to be a way to get rid if it."

Ville turned to Philip, a sadness in her voice. "Dissolution."

Sighing, Derek said regretfully, "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this."

Nick glanced at Derek, then Ville. "What's that?"

Philip explained to him frankly. "She would release her consciousness from her body and shatter the bonds that unite it. It would scatter throughout the universe. The entity would be scattered along with her." He paused for emphasis, "She could never become corporeal again."

 _'Our version of life after death,'_ Ville managed to send the image of her father to Nick. He understood: this is what had happened to her father.

 _'That is not an option,'_ Nick pushed back at her.

Sympathetic to Nick's feelings, Philip added, "She would lose the ability to link with others, but the entity would never be able to use her as a bridge to another host."

"She'd be at peace, Nick," Derek contributed.

 _'Nick, I'm sorry,'_ she stopped as a wave of nausea came over her. "I can't allow this thing to prey on the innocent. You know that, and if it were you, you'd agree."

"Yeah, I would, but there's gotta be another way." He extended his feelings. Single-mindedly, he cut through the turbulence and interference. Ville accepted everything he gave her and felt herself grow a little but stronger. She sensed how he would feel when she was gone. A selfish desire began to rise within her. Finally, she admitted, "I don't want to leave you."

Derek said questioningly, "The two of you are linked right now?" Nick nodded.

Philip responded to Derek's observation. "Nick's immune to it because he's not a suitable host."

"That's right," Derek nodded, "Nick doesn't have enough psychic energy to feed it."

"I knew that'd come in handy some day," Nick smarted off.

"He might be able to help you, Ville," Derek urged her.

"Just tell me what to do," Nick demanded.

She started shaking her head, "No, I won't risk you." She'd been prepared to sacrifice herself. Now her judgment was clouded. She couldn't think coherently.

Nick took her chin in hand. "You're not here to give up the fight," he told her firmly, "You've got to kill this thing."

Ville took his hands between hers and bowed her head over them, trying to center herself. Finally she agreed to take the chance. Philip moved back a little bit. She took a deep breath when she was ready.

Derek told Nick, "Don't be distracted by the entity. Concentrate on her. Send her your strength, your will to survive, and your willingness to kill if necessary."

"Got it," Nick closed his eyes and reached into her essence.

 _The darkness he encountered was the same from his dream. He felt the tug of war going on in her mind. The creature was almost a match for her. A dark smoky silhouette emerged. It appeared to them as Ville in the white gown, smiling seductively. 'I knew you'd figure it out.' The creature was much more subdued than Ville's previous encounters. Conserving its strength. 'I see you brought me a gift.'_

 _Ville spread her arms wide and declared, 'You shall go no further.'_

 _It sneered, 'I don't exactly have a choice, do I? Thanks to you, I can never go home!' Nick said, 'It's lying. You said it was an exit, remember?'_

 _Ville's resolve faltered slightly. 'But what if I was wrong?' The entity stabbed at her, 'You destroyed the portal!' It rocked her with a fury and came at her again. Ville fought to surround it completely, to squeeze it down and force it to implode as she'd done with the portal, but somehow it got away from her. The entity was gone. And so was Nick. The connection was broken._

Derek came up the spiral stairs and caught Nick. Derek checked for a pulse; Nick was alive, but appeared for all the world to be peacefully asleep. "What happened?" Derek demanded.

Her mind was perfectly clear now. She clenched her fists in frustration, "I had it and he pulled it away from me! Damn!" She reached for him, but Philip stopped her, "Maybe Nick knows what he's doing. It could weaken and die in him."

She ripped her hand away and raised her voice, "But I don't know what it can do to him in the meantime, Philip! This is my responsibility." She looked to Derek, still holding Nick, but he merely said, "This is absolutely your decision." She touched Nick's face and reestablished the connection.

 _He met her and blocked her path, 'Ville, go back, now. As soon as it realises it's not going to get anything from me, it'll try to get back to you.'_

 _'I am not leaving that thing in here with you,' Ville argued._

 _'Listen to me,' he persisted, 'I can handle this.'_

 _Nick's dark twin closed in, 'You just can't get enough of me, can you?' it taunted her._

 _Ville came between them. 'You're going back with me.'_

 _Cockily it said, 'I don't think so.'_

 _Her rage at being used, seeing those close to her attacked and tormented began to build. Nick came to her aid. 'You can do this.'_  
 _The creature tried to draw on Nick, but couldn't get enough. Nick dropped to his knees._

 _'No!' She unleashed the Darkness within herself and obliterated the thing. She whirled away from Nick and tried to break the connection. The Dark side was making her stronger than he'd ever felt her before. She turned inward and started rending her own soul. He saw her quiver on the pinnacle between Light and Dark; she was about to give herself over._

 _He caught her, 'No, don't this,' he begged. 'Come on down.'_

 _Her head fell back. She dropped all her defenses, leaving herself completely vulnerable. There was a kind of insanity in her eyes and voice. 'Kill me,' she dared him._

 _Nick shook her, 'No.' Then he let go of her, backed away. 'You've opened a door I can't close.' He stretched out his hand. 'You have to want to come back yourself.'_

 _She violated him and tried to consume him in her fire. Nick doubled over. With his life in her hands, she hovered over him. Balancing the pleasure with the pain, she raised him up. Somewhere in her ancient ways, she wanted him to fight back, to defeat her. He gasped, 'Is this really what you want from me? I don't believe it. I won't do it.' She hesitated. He reached out, touched her, kissed her, made love to her. She began to cry and slipped past the veil of Light._

Nick opened his eyes, and took her in her arms, murmuring, "No, no, no..." Derek gently pried him away from her. "Nick, break the connection—"

"I can't feel her at all, Derek—."

"Break the connection, Nick. She's gone into a healing trance. All we can do is wait for her to come out of it." He was more worried about Nick at the moment; he'd sensed their brush with the Dark side. "Tell me what happened."

Trying to compose himself, Nick reported, "She summoned the Dark side and destroyed the entity. She lost control and turned inward on herself."

"What about you?"

Nick hugged himself defensively. "I'm okay," his voice trembled. "She asked me to kill her." When he looked up at Derek, his eyes were wet. "How could she ask me that?" he wanted to know.

Derek placed his hand on the back of Nick's neck. "She trusted you, Nick. She trusted you to make the right decision because she was no longer in a position to do so. And I'm convinced you made the right choice." In a rare display of emotion, Nick leaned his head against Derek's arm. Derek embraced him then let him go. "I want you to go with Alex. Philip and I will take care of Ville from here."

 _As she drifted between the Light and the Dark, she felt a warmth and, though her eyes were closed, her vision filled with a golden glow. She saw an image of himself beckoning to her. His voice breathed her name although his image was not speaking. She couldn't tell if she was hearing him with her ears or just in her mind. Instead of fighting him this time, she accepted him. 'I disappeared in you, you disappeared from me.' She had always adored his voice._

 _Her vision darkened and she heard his voice more and more, phrases snatched from the past, present, future or never. She knew where she was and what was about to happen, but she could not suppress the experience. The vision persisted: the clarity and soulfulness of his eyes, the shape and feel of his hands as he played, the uplifted corner of his mouth when he smiled, the whiskers on his face when he hadn't shaved, his movements onstage, the line of his silhouette in the spotlight—the purest art form. 'The heart and the heat of a lover.' She gasped, her eyes opened. Cold starlight poured down through the tiny window of her cell. She felt her fevered brow, her body covered in a fine mist of sweat. She listened intently in the dark for many minutes, touching the cross between her breasts. Curling up on her side, she slept till dawn._

Philip was on watch when she came to. He washed her face and gave her water. "How do you feel?"

"It's like a fever," she croaked, "I had a vision. I was in a monastery in the south of Ireland. Mt. Melleray."

Philip nodded, "I've heard of it."

"I can't remember why I went there. Or when," she rolled her head from one side to the other. "I heard a voice, felt a presence." Mentally she asked his permission to share it with him. Phillip gave his consent. He heard her confession and experienced the vision with her.

Slowly he said, "I've heard that voice before...when I was a visiting priest at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. A man was driven to confession even though he wasn't of the faith. He was haunted by the dream of a dead friend. He confessed that he'd killed the man at his own request."

"Oh, Philip," she gasped as her eyes widened, "I remember." She rolled over and propped herself up. "I can remember before my arrival here," she followed the thread urgently. Her eyes widened, "Philip, I have to go back. I don't know what will happen to him if I don't."

Philip nodded sagely, "You've unfinished business."

Early the next morning, Ville worked in the control room. Nick found her there.

"What are you up to?" he asked quietly.

"I'm doing a project for Alex. She wants me to record something for the archives, a sort of memoir. I was just setting down some thoughts about my father."

"I was wondering if we could talk about what you had to do yesterday," he said.

Her hands paused above the keyboard. "I wonder what he would think of my choice – to destroy it rather than committing dissolution."

Nick leaned on the counter. "That thing was evil. You couldn't allow it to prey on the innocent you're sworn to protect. You followed your destiny as a Protector and a Founder of the Legacy. Wouldn't your father want you to continue that work, especially since he can't?"

"You're right about that." Ville felt extremely reluctant to face Nick.

He came around the desk and stood next to her. Nudging her, he tried to reconnect. She declined.

He said, "If it's about what you asked me to..."

"No, that's not it at all." Ville turned her chair to face him. "I'm sorry I put you through that."

"Derek explained it to me. I understand," he said soothingly.

Tears came to her eyes.

"What is it, Ville?"

"I have to go back, Nick. To the life I had before I appeared on the mountain. There's someone there who needs me."

He smiled ruefully, "It's a big planet; figures there'd be somebody else."

"This project for Alex will take a little while to finish. It'll give us a few days to say goodbye."

"Hey, don't worry about me. I'm fine. Really."

"No, you're not," she sobbed. She went to him and put her arms around his neck. He held her closely. Their thoughts mingled—longing and regret.

"I'll miss you," was all he'd admit to out loud.

Touching her forehead to his, she sent, _'Not so tough, eh?'_

"Don't you dare tell anybody," he threatened mockingly. "Have you told Derek you're leaving yet?"

"No, I'll tell the others at dinner."

"Okay," he whispered. He kissed her. They spent the rest of the day behind closed doors.

Three days later at dawn, Ville gathered them in a circle in the foyer. "I want to thank all of you. It's been an honour working with you." She reached out to Alex, _'I'm sorry I couldn't be your teacher, but you already have a teacher,'_ Ville winked, _'and I taught him everything he knows.'_ Alex glanced at Derek, then smiled warmly at Ville.

Philip had delayed his departure to be here this day. Taking his hands, Ville said to him aloud, "Thanks again for your guidance, Father."

"Just repaying the favor," he responded.

Rachel had come to the island to see her off as well. "Rachel," Ville predicted, "you have a bright future with the Legacy. Be sure to take care of these three for me, won't you?"

"It was an honour just to meet you," Rachel said.

Stepping in front of Derek, Ville held her hands clasped behind her back and waited for him to speak.

Rather ceremonially he said, "It was a pleasure working with you as well. I think we all learned something. On a personal note," his voice softened, "I appreciate the rarity of our encountering each other twice in a human lifetime. I want you to know that I will always cherish you, not just as my Teacher, but as a very special friend."

She bowed to him and stepped backward to the center of the circle. She held her hand out to Nick. He took it and walked her outside.

In front of the Legacy emblem on the front door, they faced each other. "I don't suppose it would do any good to say, 'You'll meet another girl?'"

He laughed at that. "No. It wouldn't. I've been more intimate with you than is even possible with anyone else. Unless some other immortal woman comes along...," he remarked impudently.

"I do have a sister," she joked. Then fondly, she told him for the last time, "I do love you, Nick. I always will."

He whispered, "I know." She kissed him once more and faded from his arms. But she left a small part of herself with him. He could feel it in the back of his mind.

Nick folded his arms across his chest and watched the sun rise over San Francisco.

 _"I am gone, but I'm never gone from you—"_


End file.
